American Gangster (Spoiler Alert)

Took in the new Denzel flick, 'American Gangster' Sunday afternoon and I have to say it was pretty solid. Denzel plays the role of Frank Lucas, who basically single-handedly changed the heroin business in Harlem during the 1970's. The movie is almost three hours long, but definitely worth it. What makes the story so interesting is how Lucas was able to go under the radar of the NYPD and the feds for so long. If the movie is accurate, they really did not even know he existed until long after his product starting hitting the market. In a market dominated by the mafia, it was one single man from Harlem that altered the landscape of the industry. Just like a true entrepreneur, his decision to go around the middleman and buy direct from the manufacturer let him drop his prices and manage quality of goods... Sounds like a good story for a high school econ course, except for the whole heroin-smuggling-murder-embezzlement sidebar. Other than that, I have to say that Mr. Lucas was quite the businessman. Go to wikipedia.com and you can find all sorts of articles written the actual events that took place.